New education system

Many here, I know, do not like higher education in Russia for obvious reasons. I will go a little further and try to briefly explain to you first why higher education in the west also has serious problems. And then I will propose an alternative idea that would be interesting to discuss.

Education in the west

When our man goes there to study, then, of course, he compares. Because of the contrast, the western system often seems ideal. I did not study in the West, but I know for sure (and I can say) that this is not the case: many quite authoritative people (I apologize, but the first one I remembered - again Paul Graham) write in blogs and even in their own books about shortcomings existing system:

• People are not taught what they really want (well, ka, find me a university, where you will be taught Ruby?)
  
• No matter what anyone says, but actually working specialists (especially young ones) in Western universities teach little - more and more of those who devoted themselves exclusively to academic career.
  
• Diplomas are worthless: A graduate from a second-class college in Alabama can be in no way inferior to a Harvard graduate
  
• Large companies want to hire people with Harvard diplomas, not because they are smart, but because they are predictable. I read from someone in the comments:
  “I asked a personnel officer why everyone necessarily requires higher education. He replied:
  “So that there is a guarantee that this person is in a position for 5 years in a row to engage in free and stupid uninteresting shit.”

From myself I will add a couple of points:

• The lecture remains the main way of teaching, while it is generally recognized that it is extremely inefficient. No more than 20% of the information is absorbed in lectures. That is why students, even in the West, gladly skip them (even the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics at Harvard admits this)
• The education system is large and cumbersome. Program changes can take years, while technology changes every day.

What in return?

As Paul Graham correctly wrote, apparently the existing system will not be able to evolve (it is too big and clumsy) and a workaround will be found. To try to find it, I asked myself, how would I really like to learn? I asked myself this question over the past year and this is what my answer is:

• A small specialized autonomous university, where not more than 10 teachers
• The lack of estimates in its current form. A person is evaluated by the comments of his teachers and fellow students in a special profile that is posted on the network. Something like an open review book is very convenient for those who want to work / cooperate with this person.
• Lack of diplomas. The diploma replaces the online profile. It is safer and more relevant.
• Lack of iron terms of training. You can come to learn six months, you can 5 years. When a person feels that he has already received everything he could - he moves on. Since there are no grades and diplomas, people will not complete their education simply because they need a diploma.
• In the process of learning, work on some (yours or someone’s, but most importantly, an interesting student) project (this applies not only to IT, but also to any other field).
• No coercion on disciplines and topics within the disciplines. Students learn what they really want. If a teacher is not familiar with a topic that a student is interested in, then he should encourage the student to get acquainted with it independently, and not force him to deal with a topic that the teacher knows well.
• Allow students to conduct classes and acquaint other students with topics that they explore (and I do not mean a standard seminar and report, as is customary).
• Carefully read the latest research in the field of neurology concerning the learning process. You can not learn in the Stone Age. There are a lot of really good books and studies on sabzh.
• Constantly change the program. It should be relevant and cover the most advanced developments in the field.

This is what I can call effective education, yes.
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I will answer the most likely criticism immediately:

Q: Do you want a doctor without a diploma to treat you? In some professions in general it is impossible to do without diplomas.
A: I want to be treated by a doctor who loves his job. And you? Reviews of his colleagues and teachers in his profile will tell me much more than a stupid piece of paper. Similarly, for employers - the paper should be a thing of the past. And keep in mind that a license and a diploma are different things.

Q: A small independent university of 10 people does not have enough money for a good technical base.
A: Why the base should belong to one university?

Q: Universities have been around for almost a thousand years and it seems to be still doing well.
A: People for fifteen hundred years thought that the sun revolves around the earth. And just a few hundred years later, as they learned that it was not so, they flew into space. If a lot of people do SO for a long time, it does not mean that it is right.

Well, a little summary about Russia. It is sad that no one here even thinks about the future of education in the form described above (at least I have not heard or read anything like this). Russia is again trying to catch up with the West and, thus, repeat mistakes. This is logical, because to do better, you must first do the same. But forever to be able to catch up - this is not exactly the path that leads to the future.